Dismantling an old old Rayburn?

[Carol]

Has anyone done this? Our lovely plumber was defeated by ours and gave up, so being a primary school teacher (we try anything!) I have spent the afternoon having a go!

Successfully removed top, much of the rockwool innards, bricks and various other bits as well as doors and the obvious removables, but internal bolts and screws are rusted. It seems to be bricked into the chimney breast and I can't see how the flimsyish sides can be removed. What would you recommend to drill the screws out or should we try the Google sledgehammer options? The front looks as though it should come off somehow.

On the positives, the LPG CH is now up and running and we are feeling much keener to stay in the freezing building as it warms up. Which is a good thing as we move in next week...... Must do some pictures..!

 

[Tony.]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trend-Grabit-Remover-Pieces-S21391F/dp/5666062514

Carol, I haven't dismantled such an objeft before, but the above tool in a cordless drill with a selection of drill bits should get through most things.

 

[Keith Bowman]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trend-Grabit-Remover-Pieces-S21391F/dp/5666062514

Carol, I haven't dismantled such an objeft before, but the above tool in a cordless drill with a selection of drill bits should get through most things.

I have though! I got some of the bolts free but working on the others ended up with broken castings. The project turned into an exercise of where best to aim the sledgehammer

 

[Flyfisher]

Have you thought about advertising it for sale, buyer to dismantle and collect?

We sold an old Rayburn about five years ago after advertising on eBay. We got £450 and the buyer came from Wales and dismantled it, including disconnecting and capping off the old hot water pipes. At the time, we'd have been quite pleased just to have someone take it away and were amazed at the offered price. It turned out that the buyer repaired and refurbished them for subsequent sale and travelled all around the country collecting them and taking them back to their base in Wales.

Just a thought.

 

[MatthewC]

Have you thought of an angle grinder to tackle the nuts and bolts? Equally there is good old 3-in-1 or WD40 to squirt and leave for ages, which might help with the screws as well.

For screws you can get a thing called an "Easy-out" which comes in different sizes - you drill a hole in the screw (not always easy), and turn the Easy-out in the direction of unscrewing and it might work. Mind you, I've not seen one for years...

 

[Keith Bowman]

Before attacking ours I spoke to one of the companies who refurbish old Rayburns: they were not interested. Depends on the age and model I expect. The type, size and position of the bolts holding a Rayburn together means that they are not readily susceptible to WD40, easyouts, hammers and cold chisels, angle grinders or blowlamps. Trust me, I tried and I have had over half a century of messing around with old machinery
Try to sell it first, ("buyer to collect") by all means - but don't build your hopes too high!

 

[Flyfisher]

You might be right that we were just lucky with the model. It was a solid fuel model that had been converted to oil and the chaps who came to collect said that solid fuel ones were increasingly popular so they would be removing the conversion kit. Still, it was a while ago now and I guess things change so it's the luck of huge draw.

As for removing seized bolts, as well as all the WD40 and similar suggestions, an impact driver would probably help as well.

 

[DJH]

In a former life I used to fit cookers/stoves such as Rayburns and as far as I can recall they were nearly always delivered already assembled with just the rail and it's brackets separate unlike Aga's which were assembled in position. Rayburns had a tin floor or bottom, and we used to bring them through the house on rollers. Having a floor or bottom meant that the insulation didn't fall out in transit and the stove could be manoeuvred through a standard door opening without it's towel rail which was fitted after installation.

I'm not sure that they were ever designed to be taken apart...

Doug

 

[Carol]

Tried to Freecycle it before but no takers, it is an old no 1 with a burnt out boiler and what appears to be 'modifications'. Our chimney sweep said it was completely knackered and only fit for scrap. And now I have started pulling bits off it is even more done for.
Will look into the grinding/cutting options at the weekend, in the meantime have ladled on WD40,
also need to remove the edges of the chimney breast as it has been bricked in. Builder has optimistically quoted for tidying up and replastering already!